


Amnesia

by nicoisbest



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Freeform, M/M, first fic lol, for the most part anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-17 01:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10583160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoisbest/pseuds/nicoisbest
Summary: A protest turned violent, causing Jack an injury which was coupled with an extreme loss of memory.





	

All he remembered was the feeling of dizziness, a searing pain in his skull, and his vision fading to black. 

His eyes opened slowly, and he stared up at an empty ceiling. The bed he was laid in wasn't one he'd ever known. As he sat upright to hold his pounding head, he'd found that the room he sat in was unfamiliar as well. He couldn't gather exactly where he was, but as he analyzed his surroundings, he began to believe it was some sort of hospital. 

White noise rushed through his head. Turning his head in reaction, he saw a blonde woman standing next to the bed. Her lips were moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. The white noise spiked, causing his headache to get stronger, which forced him to grab the sides of his head. He felt the woman shaking him now, causing the white noise to fade and be replaced by her voice. 

"Commander!" She shouted. He first noticed her voice had a slight accent, however he could not gather what kind it happened to be. Second, he had no idea who she was talking to. "I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes."

"I think you might have the wrong person," he responds, turning his head back to face her. She felt a bit more familiar than the rest of the setting, but he didn't know why, or from where. 

"Morrison, for heaven's sake, you're Strike Commander. I'm talking to you," she sighed, furrowing her brow as she did. "This isn't the time for jokes, Jack. You've been out for days, and-"

"What?" He stared at her, confused. All he could make sense of was the mention of his name - Jack Morrison. Otherwise, he had no clue what she was talking about - really, Strike Commander? - and how she knew who he was. "Have we met before?" As he asked the question, he squinted at the name tag on her coat. It read 'Dr. Angela Ziegler' and wasn't ringing any bells. 

The expression on her face quickly shifted to one of concern. "I hope you're not trying to be funny." She put a hand to his forehead. "You should lie back down."

Jack sighed, doing as he was told. Confused thoughts still filled his mind, and when coupled with his horrible headache, there was no way to make sense of them. He shut his eyes. Lying down helped the headache, even if only slightly, however it still felt as if a nail was being hammered into his skull. 

He heard footsteps in the room, coupled with mumbling. Only a bit of it he was able to hear - something that sounded like "Just how hard did you get hit in the head?". The world felt like it was spinning around him, and he couldn't catch anything else. The constant pressure on his brain kept him from thinking too much, and he was getting lightheaded. 

•

After a period of time that could have been ten minutes or thirty(he couldn't tell), Angela arrived back at Jack's bedside, tapping him to get his attention. He propped himself up on his elbow, not wanting to sit up all the way, in fear of his skull splitting. "Can you tell me the last thing you remember, Jack?" She prompted, tapping her pen on the clipboard she held. 

For a few moments, he stared into the distance. "I know my name. Jack Morrison," he responded, quietly. He started to squint at a plant in the corner of the room, trying to grab any sort of memory he could latch onto. A small thought came to mind. His free hand reached to the back of his head, feeling bandages concealing a subtle bump. "I also remember pain...?" 

"That's all you remember?" As she pinched the bridge of her nose, she pulled his hand away. "You shouldn't touch that," she explained, then wheeled over a stool for her to sit down on. "Are you sure you don't know anything else? Like where we are? Who I am? Nothing?" Her expression was getting increasingly worried by the second. "If you have amnesia, I don't know what I'm supposed to tell the UN..." 

His eyes wandered around the room, several times over - and yet, still, nothing. "...I'm sorry." Banging in his skull made him sink back down into the pillow and grab his head again. He had no idea what was happening, or why - he didn't even know if he could trust whoever this Angela was, but it was all he could do then. 

"Please, stay here. I'll be back." She got up and started heading towards the entrance to the room. "Hopefully this is only temporary..."

After hearing that, Jack somehow managed to slip into unconsciousness. 

•

He was unsure how long he was out, but he woke up to see Angela in the doorway, however now accompanied by another man. To get a better look, Jack propped himself up on his elbow again, but a sharp pain shot through his brain and forced him to lie down again. At the small glance he'd gotten at who she'd brought in, he could've sworn he recognized the man, but he didn't quite remember why...

"I just want you to help him regain his memories, Reyes. You've known him longer than anyone here." He recognized it as the voice of Angela. The name Reyes didn't remind him of anything. 

"I don't want anything to do with this," a new voice spoke, with a hint of irritation. "Besides, what if he doesn't regain his memories?" Jack assumed that the voice he was hearing was the one of Reyes. 

"Must you really only think of yourself? This is serious," she groaned. Footsteps were getting louder and closer. "Can't you look past things and realize how big of a problem this could be? Why are you still so hung up on his position anyway, Gabriel?" 

"Tch." 

The two were soon right next to Jack's bed, standing over him. He looked up at them, particularly at who he assumed was Gabriel, narrowing his eyes. For some reason, he felt like he knew him, but...  
Shaking his head, he sat himself upright, trying to dismiss how heavy his head felt. 

"Jack, do you remember him at all?" She pointed at Gabriel while looking at Jack, her expression very clearly showing distress for the situation. 

"...sort of...? I mean, I feel like I've seen him before, but from where, I don't know...sorry." Jack continued to stare at Gabriel. He was trying to connect the dots, but another shot of pain hit his brain, forcing him once again to grab his head. 

"That's better than nothing." She turned to look at Gabriel, but it seemed he was already on his way out. This makes her get up quickly and angrily, following him. "You know, you could be a huge help, here!"

"I told you that I don't want anything to do with it, didn't I?" 

The voices faded away down the hall, however it was obvious that some argument was unfolding. With a groan, Jack let go of his head and stared up at the ceiling. Who was he? God, he wish he knew. 'Strike Commander', that's who he was. What did that even mean? He wished he could remember. Would his memories come back? 

As he stared at the plain ceiling, his eyes closed. In that very moment, a flash of a memory came to mind - an image of the same man who had been in the room previously, however younger and...friendlier, so it seemed. Where had that been...? All he could remember was SEP...

The doctor walked back in, looking upset. "That man only ever thinks of himself," she grumbled as she sat back down on her stool. "Hopefully your memory will come back on it's own, so I don't have to do anything drastic..."

There was silence for a bit. She was walking around the room, tapping her clipboard with her pen. He had laid back down, his headache still continuing to worsen. 

"Do you know what the SEP is?" The silence was interrupted by his question. "It came to my mind," he explained as she found herself quickly back at his bedside. 

"The soldier enhancement program," she nodded. "Both you and Reyes were in it...did you remember after seeing him?" She inquired, a hopeful look on her face. 

"I think so. I did have a bit of a memory of him," Jack nodded, sitting up. Was he really going to be able to get his memories back..? He didn't know what his memories happened to be, but he would like to know. "Why is he refusing to help?"

Her pen was scribbling something on the clipboard. "He has something against you. Whatever it is, he should get over it and stop thinking about himself. Overwatch is on the line without you..." her voice trailed off, and she continued to scratch notes down. Finally, she took a breath, and set the clipboard down at the table beside her. "You should get some rest. I'll give you some medicine to help your headache," she suggested as she stood up. Jack hadn't mentioned having a headache, but it seemed she'd found out. 

A glass of water and a few pills were held out to him, and he accepted them, taking down the pills and drinking the water. "Thank you for helping me," he voiced as she left the room. Lying down, he closed his eyes. Overcome with tiredness, he fell asleep as soon as the pounding started to become dull. 

•

The display of the clock next to the bed read 12:45am when he woke up in a sweat, his body jerking to a seated position. He'd had a dream while he was asleep - but considering how much it stood out in his mind, it felt like he'd remembered something that had been lost. The memory was one from battle, and the phrase 'Omnic Crisis' stuck out in his mind. 

When he looked up to see if Angela was around to tell her of this, there was no trace of her - however, someone else stood in the doorway. Squinting, Jack tried to make out a face, but in the darkness, there was no way he could. The figure in the doorway approached the bedside after taking notice of Jack's awakening, taking a seat in the nearby stool. "Had a nightmare, huh?"

With closer inspection, Jack tied the voice and the face to be the one of Gabriel, who had been in here previously. His brain flooded with questions, the only one he managed to ask being "Why are you here?". 

"Shouldn't that be obvious? To help you get your memory back," he replied, his voice quiet as to not catch the attention of anyone.

This response made Jack slightly suspicious. "Didn't you say you wanted nothing to do with this?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at Gabe. Yes, he did want to regain his memory, and as it had been evident, this would likely be the best way to do that, but why would he be helping now when he supposedly disliked Jack...?

"I did say that," - there was a short pause as he sighed and shrugged - "but after thinking about it, I don't know why I should be mad with someone who doesn't know what he did," Gabriel finished, while he seemed to be avoiding Jack's gaze by looking at the wall across the room. 

Something in Jack's mind wasn't sure whether or not he could believe that this was the only reason, but he didn't know why. Dismissing it, he blinked. "...okay." He felt half asleep. It was nearly 1am...when had he fallen asleep again?

"Don't fall asleep on me, now. It's not like I have any other time to do this," Gabe groaned, obviously taking notice of Jack's overwhelming drowsiness. "Have you regained any memory at all..?"

"Yeah, one thing...something about you and I in the soldier enhancement program..." he trailed off, recalling the memory. Jack had also been reminded of war in his dream, but he didn't want to mention it, or think about it that much. 

"Nice. That's a good place to start." Gabriel nodded, sighing. "After all, we met there," he explained before leaning on the side of the bed. 

Gabriel began to tell Jack things that they'd experienced together. As the stories went on, Jack's memory continued to recover - it was obvious that Gabe's contribution was playing a huge factor.  
It was quickly nearing 3am. 

•

In just a few hours, it seemed as if a very good chunk Jack's memory had come back to him, just from talking with Reyes. 

"...thank you," Jack mumbled, after it seemed there was not much else for Gabe to say. "You didn't have to do this." His voice was obviously sleepy. 

"Just one more thing," Gabriel seemed to be leaning in closer to Jack. "Maybe you remember this already." Face to face now, Jack got confused. What did he think he was doing?

There wasn't too long of a wait until he got the answer he was looking for. He was caught off guard as Gabe went in and kissed him, something that Jack would have never expected in the current situation. And yet, this feeling of being so close was familiar. 

And then it was over. It was a brief moment, followed by complete silence. Jack opened his mouth to say something. It could have been anything, he just didn't want to sit in the quiet - but he was stopped. "Don't. It's late, Jack. You should sleep." 

Jack would have protested, but he was truly ready to pass out. Nodding with a sigh, he lied down and closed his eyes. As he slipped to unconsciousness, he swore that he felt a hand running through his hair. 

•

When Jack woke up, he found himself hoping Gabriel had stayed. However, it was quickly discovered that he had not, an easy conclusion, considering the empty space beside the bed. 

"Jack!" Angela rushed into the room and sat down, prompting Jack to sit up in the bed. "I was talking to Reyes. Did you guys talk?" 

He was surprised that Gabriel had mentioned it to Angela, but he guessed it was safe to assume that he hadn't said anything about the kissing part. "Yeah, we did," Jack nodded. "He helped me remember a lot..." 

"Do you think it was enough for you to be able to work again?" She bit her nail. "I can't keep you out forever, or else the UN'll start asking questions..." 

"Yeah, definitely," Jack nodded. Truthfully, his memory was still a little splotchy - but it was enough that he should have been able to get by. Besides, he didn't want to cause any more trouble than he already had. 

Angela sighed in relief. "Thank god," she mumbled. "I can let you go, but you might need to keep those bandages on for a few days, just in case," she explained, pointing to his head. Instinctively, he touched them. He'd forgotten they were there at all. 

"That's fine." The reply was coupled with a brief nod. Glancing at the exit, he brought his legs over to hang at the side of the bed. 

"You're eager to leave," Angela noted as she picked up her clipboard and scribbled something on it. "You can go. Just be sure to change into your usual clothes. You don't want to walk around in a hospital gown, right?" This comment made him glance down at himself. Yes; he was wearing a hospital gown. He hadn't noticed before. "Also, make sure you're careful, okay? Try not to get hurt again."

"Yeah, I got it," he spoke briefly. At this point, he just wanted to get up and do something - anything. After getting his memory back, he started noticing how much time he'd ended up wasting...

As Jack stood up, Angela stopped him before he left the room. "Let me take you to your room. Just in case," she explained. Reluctantly, he agreed. 

•

After Jack was escorted back to his room, he quickly got changed into his usual attire. He was worried that he'd missed too much and would face a huge workload apon his return. Once dressed, he headed out to find his office, really hoping he'd remember where it had been. 

As he roamed the halls, he was, in part, also looking for Gabriel, and not just his office. He had to talk to him; he couldn't just let that whole thing mean nothing. 

Sure enough, he saw him. 

Jack quickly caught up with him. "Gabe," he called, trying to get his attention. Gabe seemed to not hear at first; or maybe he was ignoring Jack. "/Gabe/," he repeated. 

Gabriel turned around and groaned. "Fuck, Jack-" he sighed, turning to face Jack as his eyes darted around the area. 

A hand grabbed Jack's wrist - Gabe's hand - and forced him to follow the man in front of him. The two found themselves in a particularly empty hallway; one that made Jack assume that this conversation would be one of secrecy. "Why-"

Jack was immediately interrupted. "Listen, Morrison, I know what you want to say, but forget it happened, okay?" Gabriel's voice was low and had a slightly angered tone. He had not let go of Jack's wrist. 

There was a look of confusion on Jack's face. "What?" His voice raised slightly. "Why did you even do it then, if you want me to forget it? Why even bother?"

"Just-" Gabe's grip on Jack's wrist tightened for a moment before quickly loosening. "It was late, and I was tired. We both were. I wasn't completely there, and made a decision out of nowhere. So, forget about it." 

There was silence. Jack gave no response. And how could he, anyway? "Assuming I even showed up for any reason other than to help you is far from the truth. It meant nothing." Eyes pierced through his own. As Gabriel let go, all he could do was watch. He didn't know what else to do. Before Gabe turned to leave, he added, "Consider it nothing more than something to remind you of lost memory." 

There was nothing but the sound of footsteps. Jack simply stared at the now empty space in front of him. In he end, it truly had helped him regain memory. He had remembered that they used to be in a relationship. 

Used to be.

**Author's Note:**

> this was my first fic and i spent like,,, a week??? maybe longer??? writing it??? and maybe it's not the best thing you've ever read i usually don't write fanfictions let alone share them when i do but i didn't want that week of work to go to nothing so i decided this might be a good place to post it! hope it's not too bad;;


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